Paloma Abarca

Outside Lands may be synonymous with indie rock, pop, electronic music, and hip-hop headliners, but tucked toward the back of the Polo Field, Casa BACARDÍ delivered a dose of Latin energy. Returning to Golden Gate Park in 2026, the stage once again created a space where reggaetón, Latin dance music, and sounds of the Caribbean and Afro-Latin diaspora could take center stage. For BACARDÍ, that cultural connection runs deeper than simply putting its name on a festival activation.

For three days, Golden Gate Park once again became its own small city as approximately 75,000 people poured into Outside Lands each day for a weekend full of indie rock, pop, hip-hop, and electronic music. On paper, the 2026 lineup was built around some of the currently bigger names in music. Charli xcx made her long-awaited festival debut, RÜFÜS DU SOL and Disco Lines brought their distinct styles of dance music to the Polo Field, and The Strokes returned to the festival.

Max Styler has spent the better part of a decade figuring out what happens when you stop chasing someone else’s version of dance music and start trusting your own. On I Don’t Think I Can Stop, his six-track EP via his own Nu Moda imprint, that realization is clear. Rather than stacking six festival-ready singles back to back, he builds something closer to the arc of an extended DJ set, where one track naturally flows into the other.